The invention relates generally to the measurement of the instantaneous angular deflection of an object and more specifically concerns electro-optical means for measuring the instantaneous angular deflection of an object without requiring mechanical contact with the object.
Previous electro-optical techniques for measuring the angular deflection of an object without mechanical contact with the object utilized modulation of a light beam by a variable density disc or a polarized disc and then measured the intensity of the light beam by means of a light sensor. These and other techniques suffer accuracy limitations due to light intensity changes, motional interaction, and nonlinear response.
It is therefore the primary object of the iinvention to provide means for measuring the angular deflections of an object without mechanical contact with the object that does not have the disadvantages of prior techniques.
A further object of this invention is to provide apparatus for measuring the angular deflection of an object without mechanical contact with the object that is simple and inexpensive.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent hereinafter in the specification and drawing.